Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses: Using your Phones Camera

Most people stop before they start when thinking about running a social media page for a business. Why? Well most people think that you need high end equipment, nice cameras, and some really creative content in order to be successful with social media marketing. While these elements certainly can help the success of a businesses social media page, they are not a necessity. Using just your phones camera, you can create content that is engaging to your audience, and build a decent following. In this article we are going to outline how a small business can have success in social media using just a camera phone.

Polished is not always Polished

We’ve all seen those TV ads with the cheesy lawyers and the cheesy punchlines claiming to help you if you are in an accident. People are now becoming more and more tired of seeing setup, seemingly fake content on digital mediums. The same commercials, posts, and ads have been on tv and computers for years now. It is time for change.

Your business will have much more success creating and sharing content that reveals the inner workings of a business, and provides a sense of transparency to consumers. Seeing how a business operates from the inside is much more engaging than seeing how it is run from the outside. Posts that show how employees work within a business, testimonials from past clients, and highlights of new changes to a company are all great examples of content that is real and engaging.

No need to put on a front, people are instantly turned off by and tune out ads that are not transparent. This doesn’t mean you should go out and try and get pictures of your employees picking their noses, but it is important to have a certain level of realness to your content. Having a level of realness to your posts will allow potential followers to feel like they can develop a relationship with your business.

What to Post

The two main sources of content that all business should be creating are posts and stories. Posts should be created on a daily basis, based on what is going on within the business that day. Stories should also reveal different things that are going on related to the business that day. The content can be as simple as photos from a day on the job, or can be more direct with short interview style videos. The main thing to remember when creating content is to think “is this interesting?” Will the content created be interesting to people who are not tied to your business? The content doesn’t need to be over the top, but it needs to be engaging enough to appeal to people who don’t know about the business.

Using Your Phones Camera to Create Content

If you have a smart phone, the camera that your phone has is plenty to create great content. You can buy a phone tripod, microphone, and light that attaches to your phone to help make the quality of the content you make with your phone better. See our blog on filming an effective video ad to learn more about some of the equipment you can get to enhance the quality of your phone content. While professional equipment can be nice for ads, daily social content is often more appealing if shot with lower end equipment.

This is because content that is created on your phone gives the feeling that the content was just created and is not staged. Taking some time to build basic composition and lighting skills can help you achieve amazing content. Filming subjects using the rule of thirds, and taking photos with a little creative style can easily be achieved using a smartphone.

Some Ideas to Get Started

As a business owner, you don’t have enough time to create all of the social media content yourself. Start by picking some employees who are willing to create content, and give them some direction. Have a different employee each day take photos out on a job site, and create stories that highlight what they do throughout the day. Have each employee take turns creating content each week, so that your followers get to see different ares within your company. Over time your feed will reveal how your company operates, and will also build trust between your clients and employees.

Another great idea to get content is to document the full process of your product or service. Start posting pictures of your product or service from the very beginning. Document each stage of your service and show your followers what goes into your work. Showing your followers what you do at each stage will make your clients develop an appreciation for each step of your work. You followers will begin to value your services more because they see the amount of effort that goes into your product.

Conclusion

It can be hard to get started posting on social media, amidst all of the other things going on throughout the day. However social media can be a huge avenue to promote brand awareness and create fans of a business. The main focus should be on being consistent with posts, and creating content that isn’t too edited or staged. Be as real as you can be, and people will admire the transparency you show through your company and be more likely to trust your company to do the job.

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Bryant Digital is a full-service digital & creative agency based in Virginia Beach, VA. We craft digital solutions that position our clients as leaders in their industries, and connect with their target market. We’re experts in awesome.